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Metascore®Mixed or average reviewsbased on a weighted average of allcritic review scores.

38

out of 100

Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips

Nobody watches a disaster movie starring digital tornadoes expecting Oscar Wilde. But Into the Storm, directed with bland efficiency by Steven Quayle of "Final Destination 5," reminds us that unless a movie establishes certain base-line levels of human interest, it runs the not-unentertaining risk of coming out squarely in favor of its own bad weather.

The script by John Swetnam is rudimentary, with only the most minimal and pallid stabs at characterization... Nevertheless, once the funnel clouds begin swirling, Quale and his special effects team achieve some remarkably authentic and frightening moments.

To give the film its full due, the people who made it — the writer, John Swetnam, and the director, Steven Quale — got wind of a genuine trend and ran with it. Everyone on screen is busy filming everyone else. It's a shakier-camera version of "The Blair Witch Project" in the era of YouTube.

Parents need to know that Into the Storm is an extremely intense natural disaster film about how a group of storm chasers and a high-school assistant principal and his two teenage sons handle a deadly series of tornadoes that hits an Oklahoma town. The storm sequences are violent and deadly; each one leaves more devastation to buildings and people. Characters die, sometimes horrifically, during the storms, especially those who are swept up into a tornado vortex. The body count includes a few prominent characters, and everyone is in life-threatening peril. Language, which includes "s--t" and its many derivatives, is used in nearly every scene once the storms start hitting the town. There are also some references to sex and banging and hot women, but only a couple of actual kisses, one at the beginning and one at the end. Disaster movies can frighten some younger viewers even more than monsters or aliens or paranormal horror, so make sure you know whether your tween or teen can handle realistic depictions of weather catastrophes.

Families can talk about the type of violence in a natural disaster movie versus that in war or sci-fi/superhero action movies. Are deaths and devastation scarier when they're caused by weather phenomena than by humans, aliens, or superheroes?

There's a lot of language in Into the Storm, but people are in life or death situations; does that make the language more believable or excusable, or is it unnecessary?

What makes for a good disaster film? How does this movie compare to similar movies?

The good stuff

Messages: The overwhelming message is that storms can turn from severe to lethal, and people should always evacuate when asked to seek shelter. But if your family or people you love are missing, you must also do everything in your power to get them to safety. Also, as the movie makes clear, pretending to be a storm chaser when you have no credentials is a bad decision.

Role models: Gary is always looking out for others; whether it's his students or his sons, he won't stop until he's protected those he cares about and loves. Some characters make selfish and dangerous decisions (like Reevis and Donk, who are just trying to shoot YouTube videos), while others are genuinely committed to helping track storms but not at all costs, like Allison. Pete redeems his early greedy behavior by sacrificing his safety to save others, and Donnie does his best to keep Kaitlyn calm during terrifying circumstances. Trey and Donnie are loving brothers to each other.

What to watch for

Violence: The tornado scenes can be really intense, with large-scale destruction to the town of Silverton and many people killed, including a couple of major characters. People are sucked into the vortices despite desperate attempts to stay attached to something on the ground. One particularly horrific scene shows a man being sucked into a fiery vortex screaming and pleading. Another man is shown in a vehicle as it's sucked up into the air and then comes slamming down, instantly killing him. Other characters nearly drown, have to be revived, and are injured during the storms.

Sex: Not much actual romance beyond the opening scene, when a teen couple is shown making out in the backseat of a car. Otherwise, limited to holding hands, mid-peril embraces, and a chaste kiss. But there are verbal references to desire and sex, like a teenager saying that in 25 years he hopes to have a "smokin' hot" wife he can "bang," or a sophomore taking photos of a "hot" teacher with a great "rack" and lots of cleavage, or a high schooler asking his brother to "get some skin on camera" when he's with a pretty girl.

Language: Most scenes include strong language, particularly the exclamation "s--t" and its derivatives ("bats--t," "bulls--t," "s--tless," "oh s--t," "holy s--t," "chickens--t," and more), as well as occasional use of other words, like "d--k," "jackass," "ass," and "goddamn."

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